ANOTHER DAY GOES BY WITHOUT HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOM

TURKEY – Although, the international media is now turning a blind eye, the citizens of Turkey are still on the streets, protesting against the oppression of freedom and demanding the human rights not to be abused anymore by the totalitarian Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP rule. On the other hand the government keeps pushing the oppression to new heights.

Yesterday (13 July 2013) there were demonstrations from Istanbul to Antakya all over Turkey. Last night police have fired water cannons and tear gas to the several thousand protesters gathered on Istanbul’s İstiklal Avenue to protest a midnight bill adopted this week by the Parliament which curbed the supervision of the Chamber of Architects and Engineers (TMMOB) in all urban projects, giving full authority to the Environment and Urban Planning Ministry. Some shop owners also threateningly attacked with batons reporters an protesters chased the protesters into the side streets by the police.

Members of TMMOB, of whom many were among the most active leaders of the Taksim Solidarity Platform that initiated the protests over the demolition of Gezi Park in Istanbul, as well as many protesters, had joined the demonstration in Galatasaray Square that started at 5:30 p.m.

However, police did not allow the group to walk to Taksim Square after the Governor’s Office refused to grant permission. Police demanded the protesters to end the demonstration after the statement, warning them that a dispersion by force would be carried out against them if they failed to do so. Most of the protesters dispersed while the police chased them into the side streets, cutting off some of the pedestrian entrances to the İstiklal Avenue.

After scattering, some of the protesters started to regroup on the İstiklal Avenue. Water cannon trucks and ‘scorpions’ were also dispatched to the area. Live footage showed riot police using tear gas in the side streets, they also fired rubber bullets to protesters.

A group of baton-wielding shop owners attacked protesters running from the police. They also threatened reporters, trying to prevent them in vain from filming and taking their pictures.

Police also detained protesters, including art scholar Osman Erden. Erden was seen bleeding from the mouth while he was taken into custody.

Earlier, a spokesperson for the group slammed the midnight bill, saying the government wanted to “silence” architects and engineers to prevent hurdles in grandiose urban projects. “They don’t want us because we are against Istanbul’s third bridge, because we said no to Canal Istanbul,” he said, referring to the massive-scale construction works branded as “crazy projects” by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

During his speech, the crowd also chanted “no to the third bridge, no to canal Istanbul, no to crazy projects,” hinting that the demands of the protesters could widen.

The spokesperson also recalled that many members of the Taksim Solidarity Platform and other civil groups were harassed and ill-treated while in custody, including Mücella Yapıcı, the general secretary of TMMOB’s Istanbul office. “We won’t surrender,” he said.

Protesters were also seen holding pictures of Ali İsmail Korkmaz, the fifth Gezi protester who passed away due to his injuries in hospital. Korkmaz was brutally beaten by a group wearing civilian clothes as he was trying to escape a police tear gas attack.

Especially since the Gezi Park protests begun the AKP government increased the violation of human rights. Earlier yesterday, mothers whose children had been detained also organized a sit-in in Galatasaray Square, calling for the end of arbitrary detentions .

In addition t0 the protests in Istanbul, yesterday, Gezi protesters and members of the Chamber of Architects and Engineers’ (TMMOB) have held a demonstration in Ankara as well denouncing the bill approved by the Parliament earlier in the week sidelining the organization in the approval of urban projects.

The much-criticized midnight bill, passed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) votes, eliminates occupational chambers from any future city-planning procedures, removing the obligation of the chambers’ approval of projects.

TMMOB has long been a vocal opponent of the AKP government, along with some workers’ and civil servants’ unions and the Turkish Medical Association (TTB).

Approximately 10,000 people gathered near Kızılay in the afternoon, however riot police didn’t allow them to march until the nearby Güven Park.

Protests in Ankara continued at night as well. Police used tear gas and water cannons once more to quell the protesters gathered at the junction of Kennedy and Atatürk Avenues, which lies half way between Güven Park and Kuğulu Park, the heart of the Gezi gatherings in the Turkish capital.

And on the 3rd consecutive night the police moved on the Armutlu neighborhood of Antakya in the southern province of Hatay late July 12 in an effort to stop Gezi Park protesters from marching to the spot where a local demonstrator was killed last month. the authorities had been switching off the street lights during the police operations. However, citizens of Hatay have been able to lighten up the darkness by using fireworks. Protesters brought their own furniture on streets to create barricades.

The neighborhood has witnessed three straight nights of violence, with eyewitnesses calling the July 12 police intervention the harshest yet. Reports said police moved on Armutlu with riot police, water cannon trucks and a number of plainclothes police officers, adding that one protester hit by a gas canister on his head was severely injured. Dozens of protesters, two police officers and one soldier have also reportedly been injured while one person was taken into custody. Police also damaged the homes of locals during the operation.

Police failed to enter Armutlu on July 11 to quell protests that erupted after locals buried Ali İsmail Korkmaz, a 19-year-old local who was beaten to death by men in civilian clothing at Gezi protest in the Central Anatolian province of Eskişehir.

Armutlu has been a flashpoint in the protests since late May, especially after 22-year-old Abdullah Cömert was shot and killed on a nearby street on June 3

Long story short, although human rights organizations have urging Turkey’s authorities to punish rogue police officers guilty of misconduct the government insisting on taking no action.

Long story short, by not accepting their failures and not listening the demands of people, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP government is pushing the country to towards a big divide if not the biggest in Turkish Republics history.

Long story short, another day goes by without human rights and freedom in Turkey.